Apparatus for finishing wood



Aug. 25, 1953 I 1, H. JONES I 2,649,755

APPARATUS FOR FINISHING W000 Filed Oct. 7, 1950 s Sheet s-Sheet 1 V INVENTOR. LESL/E HESS JONES ATTORNEYS BY flaw 57mg Aug. 25, 1953 H. JONES 2,649,755

APPARATUS FOR FINISHING woos Filed Oct. 7, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. LESLIE HESS JONES ATTORNEYS L. H. JONES APPARATUS FOR FINISHING WOOD 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed 001;. 7, 1950 INVENTOR. LESLIE HESS JONES ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 25, 1953 APPARATUS FOR FINISHING WOOD Leslie Hess Jones, Memphis, Tenn., assignor to E. L. Bruce Company, Memphis, Tenn., a corporation of Delaware Application October 7, 1950, Serial No. 188,970

1 Claim.

This invention relates to an improvement in apparatus for the finishing of wood and, more particularly, for the factory finishing of wood flooring in the form of strips, b1ocks, and the like.

Heretofore wood flooring, in the form of strips, blocks, and the like, has been finished in the factory so that when laid no further finishing operation is required.

In the factory finishing of wood flooring, it has been customary to apply to a surface of wood flooring a penetrating seal finish composition, in distinction from a surface coating such as a varnish or shellac, work the finishing composition into the pores of the wood, remove excess finish composition, apply heat to dry the finish and finally wax the surface of the wood to complete the finish.

Apparatus for the factory finishing of wood flooring has generally comprised a continuously moving conveyor, as an endless belt, which carries the wood flooring into operative relation with various instrumentalities successively arranged with respect to the conveyor and designed to effect the several operations involved in the finishing operation. Such apparatus is illustrated and described, for example, in U. S. Patent No. 2,341,161, to which reference is hereby made.

The apparatus heretofore used in factory finishing has proved generally efficienti However, it has been found that in the application of the finishing composition to the surface of the flooring, which is usually accomplished by spraying, a substantial amount of the composition is deposited on the surface of the conveyor, usually an endless belt, through gaps between the ends or edges of the flooring units, as strips, blocks, or the like, and building up on the. conveyor prevents the flooring units thereon from presenting a flat horizontal surface required for --proper finishing, and otherwise negatives efficient operation of the apparatus, requiring frequent interruption of the finishing operation for cleaning of the conveyor and waste of finishing composition. 7

Now in accordance, with this invention, there is provided an improvement in apparatus for factory finishing, more particularly with respect to that portion of the apparatus designed for the application of the finishing composition.

Details involved in this invention will be made apparent in the following description when read in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a conveyor including the roller finishing composition applying apparatus embodying this invention with the upper portion thereof removed;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the roller finishing composition applying apparatus; and

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the apparatus shown in Figure 2.

Referring to the figures there is shown an endless conveyor belt 6 which overlies a metal sheet 2. The belt is supported at one end of the conveyor by the pulley! which is mounted on the side frames [0. At the opposite end of the conveyor the belt is similarly supported. The belt is driven by means of suitable drive motor 8 and speed reducer 9, connected to the pulley l.

The flooring strips l2 are placed on the belt conveyor 6 and pass-under the pressure roller It which is mounted on the side frames ID by means of the adjustable bearing mounts l6. These mounts are adjustable in order that the height of the roller above the conveyor may be adjusted for various thicknesses of flooring strips. l'he strips are in tongue and groove engagement, as shown in Figure 3, as they pass under the rollercoating apparatus shown generally at I8 in Figure 1 and shown in greater detail in Figures 2 and 3.

The roller coating apparatus includes the frame work ontop of which is mounted the driving motor 22 and the speed reducer 24 connected together by means of the drive belt 23. The speed reducer is coupled by means of the drive chain 26 to a' sprocket rigidly mounted on the shaft mounting the coating of the roller 28. The idler sprocket is employed to adjust the slack in the drive chain 26.

The coating roller 28 has its outer surface 21 coated with a material such as rubber or other suitably yielding material which is resistant to the finishing compositions employed. There is associated with the coating roller 28 the rollers 30. and 32. These three rollers are mounted on shafts which are supported by bearings 29, 31 and 33 respectively, which are fixed to portions of the frame work 20.

The chain 34 engages sprockets fixed on the shafts of each of the threerollers and thus serves to rigidly connect the three rollers in rotating connection, v Thus the rollers and 32 a dr en.. i.ag n. nt ed. with roller 28, and the three rollers then rotate in Suspended from the frame work is the roller scraper 38. This scraper .is adjusted vto a spaced position from the roller by means or the threaded hanger rods whichpass through the cross member 44 which .is" supported Jbygthe frame work 29. By adjusting the butterfly nuts 48, the scraper may be raised or l owered ,on an are determined by the fixed brace'rnembers and its spacing with respect to the roller 338 which may thereby be adjusted with extreme ee e ey- Th i ire e .we k 52.9 e the selle seatin .eev e ine de t e n le ,rnemiie 'i-i which rest e collars 54 which are rigidly fixed to the supportned Tliee pe tine red 'iea thre s ihre eh leek ar fixe t th channel mb r w h res th s de if am s ie. The upper ends 'e the screen n re .i a formed a hand e 45. ivlh teb th thr a e rods fiemay be ,cqnvenie tly rotatedto raise we th mille .eeaier wit respec t th so veyor in order to provide adjustment of the Pre eu ee th selle .ime th fl o n st p ;In v p reiien ihe mi le eate t w free. as stri s 5 are. carr ed th o t sm r n the conveyor be lt 5. jI-jhestrips pass under t e pr s l pl ie 'l 4 -.W eh serv s to 11 1s th s r p .11! iv a a ns itll r qnveyqr and t s cur fis .heri e e surfa e oith fieeri s a they pa -1 rihe s at...

.R ferrm ta the. rollers .2840 a s i wh c a o sub tantiall uni orm-d mete and Winche et i i th sam dir cti n and w t s bst t ei e u phe velocit as La re ul .e beinsel i emb the-cha n the roll -i pick p fin shi .e m it en rom th q s jb roll isw eh is pesit ene to s i h e e ne i ith h i Her-1 p ksup from the ro l r 3 a crfii o i fi n ineicomp sit q car ied he eby- .-;Th ..ro l 1& .the fi rries ala e v o inishin mposit ons-11pm an s h s rap r 38. The scraper 38 whichis adjusted to .2,,fi -.'l cl m sie wfremtm .relle 3.0. serv s. to m te to eentrel th hi n r Ethe m un of th nishin .eempo i ion which i c rrie y th roller 3 il andistransferred to theroller gll. The rollerf28 .and, the;roller,3 0 arepositionedso that their surfaces arebarely touching asthe two rollers rotate, -nd thus there is, deposited upon the roller 23 a layer of finishing materialofuniformly controlledthickness. Asjthe roller is proceeds to,.rotat,e, this layer of ,fi,ni$hing. composition is deposited. uponv the ,woodflooring, strips whichare,passinesthereunder. -The speed of the roller 328 is ,adjusted vith respect to. the., speed of, the flooringstripsso that the roller rotates ,at l

.. i rii en i ele iee ve e i brushed by the revolving bristle brush ill which is driven by the motor 12 through the belt is. This brush spreads the remaining composition uniformly over the surface of the wood. The flooring next meets the revolving burlap pad buffer '58 which is driven by the motor 18 and the belt 8%) and which further uniformly spreads and removes any surplus composition.

Following the operations just'described, the flooring enters an infra-red light line 82 in which the finishing composition is set as described more fully in the above mentioned patent application.

' Itwill be apparent that the present invention employs novel roller coating apparatus which applies a uniform coating of a finishing composition to wood flooring strips as they are passed continuously along" a moving conveyor. The rubbercovered roller makes possible the application of the coating composition with a uniform and controlled roller pressure, and by adjusting the peripheral speed of the coating roller to a speed slightly greaterthan the speed of the wood flooring strips, a wiping action may be obtained between the rubber surfaced roller and the flooring strips which serves to apply the coating to the wood flooring strips with a highly desirable pre in r squ e in e e It will be apparent that various modifications may be made in the foregoing embcdiment oi thisinvention without departing from the scope or the invention as set forth in the following claim. 1

What is claimed is:

Inapparatus forthe finishing of wood flooring units, a longitudinally extending conveyor for conveying Wood flooring units, a framework mounted over said conveyor, said framework supporting three rollers rotatablymounted in axially parallel relationship, driving means mounted-on said framework and rotating all of said rollers in the same direction, a troughpartially surrounding the first of saidrollers, saidtrough' containing a coating composition, the second of said rollers being positioned adjacent-1 thefirst of said rollers to removecoating composition therefrom, a vscrapermounted on saidiframework adjacent said second roller to controlfthethickness of coating composition carried by said second roller, thethird of said rollers being in engagement with said second roller and removing the layer of coating" composition therefrom, said third roller having ayielding rubber surface for engagement with said flooring "units, and means foradjusting the" distance between said third roller and 'said' conveyor.

LEJSLIE. HESS JONES.

,fiefes ee fii te i thefil .e t e ie I ZI DJSTAI L AT T Numb-er Name Date 430,269 Clauseet al June 17, 1890 1,183,887 Leatherbee' May 23, 1916 1,339,106 Dittmar ;-=May 4; 1920 1,409,908 Aflelder -Mai. 21,1922 1,530,292 j'Biet'z Mar. 17, 1925 1,756,998 Walker -'Ma 6,1930 12,030,325 Sheh'an *Feb. 11, 51.930 2,032,211 Hoin'bostel ji eb. "25,1936 2,167,063 Brandi- 1' 'J1i1y25, 1939 2,288,585 "Partee et a1. ,June 30, 1942 2,354,777 fed swarm" Aug. 1, i944 2,468,266 "ip yql'lfift al. -'Ar$r. 26, 19 19 

